Review: Samsung Epic 4G Touch

Samsung's Social Hub is on board the Epic 4G Touch. It lets you manage nearly everything -- email, SMS, Facebook, Twitter, even your calendar -- from a single portal. It takes a little bit of time to configure, but once you do, it can be your one-stop-shop for managing communications. I found use of this tool to be particularly taxing on the battery, though it is certainly convenient if you prefer to triage messaging rather than really dive into it.

If you'd prefer to skip Samsung's software, the stock Android messaging tools are still available. The SMS application remains simple yet powerful. Messages are threaded in a conversational style, and media (photos, video, audio) fall in-line with the text. The usual two Android email applications are also present. There's the generic email app for POP3/IMAP4 and Exchange, as well as the native Gmail application.

On the instant messaging side of the equation, the stock GTalk application is on board for Google users, but a catch-all application for other services is missing. If you want to chat via AIM, Yahoo, or Windows Live, you'll need to seek out a third-party solution from the Android Market.

Facebook and Twitter aren't pre-installed, so you'll have to download them yourself.